FX week in review: Broker CEO and CMO resign; IG, NAGA, Spreadex results
Which leading Australian Retail FX broker saw its longtime CEO resign?
Which US/UK broker saw its longtime CMO leave?
How did the market react to IG Group’s results?
How are other brokers doing – NAGA Group, Spreadex?
Where is USGFX looking for a new license, after its Australia arm filed for bankruptcy?
All these stories and more appeared first or exclusively this past week on FNG. Some of the top forex industry news items to appear on the pages of FNG this week included:
Exclusive: GO Markets CEO resigns. FNG Exclusive…. FNG has learned that one of Australia’s leading Retail FX brokers has received the resignation of its CEO, effective immediately. Who’s out at GO Markets? Is there a replacement? Get all the details, exclusively at FNG. Established in 2006, Melbourne based GO Markets is one of the leading licensed Retail FX and CFD brokers in Australia. We reported a few weeks ago that GO Markets has expanded recently in the MENA region, and obtained a Broker License from the UAE Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA).
Exclusive: Wendy Collins out as Gain Capital CMO. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that longtime Gain Capital Chief Marketing Officer Wendy Collins has left the company. The London based Ms. Collins had been with Gain Capital since 2016. From London, she oversaw the company’s global marketing campaigns and strategy for its Forex.com and City Index retail forex and CFD brokerage brands. She took on that role after Gain had promoted its former New York based CMO, Samantha Roady, to become President of Retail under CEO Glenn Stevens in early 2016.
Exclusive: USGFX applying for Cyprus CySEC license. FNG Exclusive… The ever moving saga of Retail FX and CFDs broker USGFX continues. Following the bankruptcy filing of its main operating subsidiary in Australia, Union Standard International Group Pty Ltd, the USGFX group is moving to shift the nexus of its operations to Europe. USGFX already has made a large investment into Europe, but most of that to date has gone into the UK. The group set up a UK subsidiary in 2017 and went through the FCA license approval process, receiving its FCA license in November 2018. USGFX-UK had planned to begin taking on clients in late 2019 / early 2020, but that coincided with the time the parent company in Australia fell into issues with regulator ASIC, which the company eventually blamed for the bankruptcy of the flagship Australia operation.
IG Group shares trade down 11% after disappointing outlook. Shares of leading UK-based online trading house IG Group took a large hit on Thursday, after the company reported stellar results but a less-than-stellar outlook for the coming fiscal year. IG shares dropped 11% on Thursday, from Wednesday’s close of 833.5p to close at 743p. They recovered slightly in early Friday trade, up 0.6% to 748.5p. IG had already given investors most of the “good news” prior to the release of FY 2020 results (IG has a May 31 fiscal year end).
Exclusive: NAGA Group sees Revenues drop 27% in Q2-2020. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that social trading focused Retail FX brokerage firm NAGA Group AG has seen a 27% QoQ drop in Revenue, with Q2-2020 Revenue coming in at €5.1 million, versus a company record €7.0 million reported in Q1. Despite the drop, NAGA has completed an amazing turnaround from last year. NAGA’s first half combined Revenues of €12.1 million far outpace 2019’s entire year’s Revenues of €3.9 million. The company turned profitable in the first half of 2020, with an EBITDA margin of around 30.5%. That’s much improved from a 2019 net loss of €13.4 million for the Hamburg, Germany based company.
Exclusive: Spreadex revenues and profits hit in 2020 from Covid-19. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned via regulatory filings that UK financial and sports spreadbetting outfit Spreadex took a hit in its Fiscal 2020 year (ended May 31), due to the Covid-19 crisis. Covid-19 killed virtually all UK (and global) sporting events in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, leading to a near-zero Revenue stream from sports betting for a near-three month period. The decline in sports activity, however, was at least somewhat offset by increased financial spreadbetting.
In other FX industry executive moves reported this past week at FNG:
Exclusive: ex Gold-i exec Arun Lakhani (pictured at left) joins Equiti Group.
Exclusive: Saxo Bank hires James Dewdney for institutional sales in London.
CFI hires Demetrios Zamboglou as COO.
Exclusive: Hantec Markets hires Hamza Arabyat to head Middle East sales.
Brokeree promotes Julia Ilichyova to Operations Director.
First Derivatives’ Kx adds Google Cloud alum Alan Coad as CRO.